


made with love

by keptein



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 13:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6857281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keptein/pseuds/keptein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroo is a pastry chef who tries to keep himself from falling in love with two returning customers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	made with love

**Author's Note:**

> happy bokuakakuroweek!! finger guns. this was written for day 2: food.

“It’s for my boyfriend,” the customer says behind the counter. Tetsurou nods, busy looking down and writing down the request.  _ Chocolate cake, extra chocolate - ‘happy anniversary’, green icing. _ “It’s our anniversary!”

“I never would’ve guessed,” Tetsurou says dryly, and the customer laughs. Tetsurou looks up and - oh.

In case he'd forgotten how incredibly gay he was, this customer is here to remind him. "Anyhow," the customer says, still with a blindingly bright smile. "When can I come pick it up?"

_ Taken, _ Tetsurou tells himself.  _ Taken, taken, taken. _ "Uh... tomorrow. Or the day after. Come by whenever."

"Really? Awesome! I'll come over tomorrow! Bye - Kuroo? Is that how you read that?"

Tetsurou nods, taken aback by the customer leaning over to read his name tag. "Yeah. Kuroo Tetsurou."

"I'm Bokuto Koutarou," the customer says. "See you tomorrow!"

"See you," Tetsurou says lamely, and goes to make sure he's working tomorrow.

*

"Keiji - and he's adorable, y'know, 'cause he loves to pretend he doesn't like this shit, but he  _ loves  _ chocolate, and green is his favourite colour, so I'm hoping he'll like this! And it's been - a year, which is a pretty big deal." Bokuto smiles, flushing a little.

"That's sweet," Tetsurou says. He means it genuinely, but it comes out as sardonic, and Bokuto's shoulders fall a little. "I mean it. He's lucky to have you."

"Oh, if anything I'm lucky to have  _ him, _ he's really great - I really should've tried to bake something myself, but I'm a nightmare in the kitchen, so... better keep you guys in business, right?"

"We appreciate it," Tetsurou says, and Bokuto laughs again. It's so easy to get Bokuto to laugh, it feels almost addictive - they've only met twice, but Tetsurou's already made him laugh more than a handful of times.

"I should stop chattering your ear off, I'm sure you have other people to tend to, and I know I can get rambly, it's a character trait. Rambly girls are cute, though, but guys not so much..."

"I like rambly guys too," Tetsurou says, and then wants to smack himself. What a line. Bokuto looks happy, though, and he's straightened up again, so Tetsurou doesn't fully regret it.

Ninety-five percent regret, maybe. Luckily he's alone at the till, and there’s no one around to mock him.

"So, thank you for this!" Bokuto says, holding up the cake box in goodbye. "I'm sure I'll see you soon if it's good!"

"It is," Tetsurou says, and that's all he gets out before Bokuto's gone, and it's time for the next customer.

*

Tetsurou is a pastry chef-in-training, which mainly means he's at the till, and sometimes he cuts out the circles for sponge cakes. But at least it's a decently paying gig, and he likes his boss. It's a small, independent pastry shop, which was Tetsurou's dream when he was a kid, so he doesn't mind that he has to stand around for a couple of years before moving up in the system. Besides, sometimes he gets cute customers, and even though they're painfully taken, it's still a good way to spend some time.

*

"Can I have something made to order?"

"Hi! Not today, I’m afraid," Tetsurou says, checking his watch. "You need to come in before 12 if you want it done for today."

"Tomorrow is fine," the customer says. His fingers are resting on the counter, five long, dark digits. "Do you do cheesecake?"

"Does an art shop do brushes?" Tetsurou asks. "Of course we do cheesecakes."

The customer huffs, and Tetsurou laughs a little in apology.

"Sorry," he says. "You wouldn't guess how many people ask me, with a straight face, if we do cakes at all."

"Mhm," the customer says. "Could I order a lime cheesecake for tomorrow, then?"

Tetsurou clears his throat, getting out a pen to write down the order. "Anything fancy? Would you like any writing on the cake or the box?"

The customer pauses. "No," he says after a long pause. "Plain is fine."

"Okay. And your name?"

"Akaashi."

Tetsurou nods, writing it down. "We open at eight, so come in at any time tomorrow and we'll have it ready for you."

"Thanks," Akaashi says. He pauses again. "Actually, could it say - thank you? On the box."

"Sure," Tetsurou says amiably, bending his head to note it down. "That it?"

"That's it," Akaashi says. "Bye."

"Bye," Tetsurou says, waving after him. Arrogant, he notes, but in an undeniable way, like it's just fact. Or is that just confidence? Good thing there aren't going to be any customers for twenty minutes or so, because two o'clock is always empty, so he can fully ponder this philosophical question and not focus on the fact that he’s bored out of his mind.

*

Bokuto's back the next week. "It's for work," he explains, after ordering fifty four cupcakes. "And then one for Keiji."

"The boyfriend?" Tetsurou asks, pretending he's forgotten.

Bokuto brightens. "Yeah! Wow, you remember?"

Tetsurou taps his temple. In hindsight, it's a little embarrassing to admit he remembers the name of Bokuto's boyfriend from several weeks ago, but the damage is already done.

"He loved the cake," Bokuto says, as proud as if he'd baked it himself. "He actually came by and bought one too, maybe you met him?"

Tetsurou shakes his head. "Not as far as I know," he says. "I do have the occasional day off, though."

"So is this what you do, or is it just a side gig?"

"It's what I do. I'm a pastry chef in-training, so I mostly watch the till, but sometimes I bake."

"Really! Have you baked any of this stuff?" Bokuto peers at the pastries behind the glass.

"Uh, yeah.. the buns, and the croissants."

"Aweome! I'll have one of both, then."

"What, really? You don't have to..."

"I want to," Bokuto says firmly, and smiles again. "Do you get a cut?"

"No," Tetsurou says, laughing a little. "I don't get a cut of the profits, unfortunately. But my wage isn't bad."

"I'm glad to hear that," Bokuto says. A slightly awkward pause falls while Tetsurou gets a bun and a croissant for him, and then Bokuto is paying with another smile, and then the door is shutting behind him.

_ You gay-ass fool, _ Tetsurou tells himself, but he can't stifle the slight sigh that escapes him.

*

There are other customers too, of course. Men and women and both and neither - everyone needs a good pastry every now and then, and Tetsurou isn't afraid to give the people what they want. Some are curt and abrupt, but some are chatty and smiling - still, no one eclipses the image of Bokuto. That is, until the arrogant 'thank you' cheesecake comes back.

"Hello," Tetsurou says, smiling. "What'll it be today?"

"Do you serve coffee?"

"We do indeed." Tetsurou nods towards the menu, which proudly displays their coffee orders. "What'll it be?"

"One double espresso and a cappucino, and..." The man's - what was his name? Tetsurou can remember his order, but not his name. "I heard the buns are good. Two of those. To take away."

"Alright," Tetsurou says, moving to get the order started. When he was new, saying the same things over and over felt weird and rude, so he'd started saying 'alrighty,' 'alrightyho,' and - well, it escalated until his boss heard him say 'alrightymighty, shall doopero,' and banned him from making up words while working the till.

"Are you Kuroo?"

"Yeah," Tetsurou says, looking over at the customer - Akaashi! That's it. Akaashi. "That's me, why?"

"My boyfriend said I should say hi," Akaashi says, lips twitching into a smile.

"Your boyfriend?"

"Bokuto Koutarou."

"Oh, you're  _ Keiji," _ Tetsurou exclaims, and then almost drops the milk he's foaming. "Shit, uh, I'm sorry, that was - overly familiar, I apologise. He loves talkin' about you, though.”

Akaashi smiles, a softer, more earnest thing which makes his whole face less severe. “I know, he’s terrible,” he says fondly - more fondly than intended, perhaps, because he straightens up and clears his throat immediately afterwards.

“Here’s your order,” Tetsurou says before Akaashi makes himself apologise for being in love. “Say hi back.”

“I will,” Akaashi says, and raises the bag of buns in farewell as he steps outside.

Tetsurou looks after him for a long moment and sighs.

*

“So you’re crushing on both of them?” Kenma asks, head bowed, looking down at his phone.

“Kinda,” Tetsurou says, watching the birds fly overhead. They’re meeting for lunch in a park, and the sun is so bright Kenma has to huddle to shield his screen, only able to see it in the shade.

“That’s weird.”

“Yeah,” Tetsurou says sadly. “I’m not gonna do anything about it, though. Maybe this is a sign I should try online dating again.”

_ “Don’t,” _ Kenma says quickly. Tetsurou sighs.

“It could turn out better than -”

“Don’t,” Kenma says again, firmly and without looking up from his phone. “You don’t even know either of them. It’ll pass.”

“We’ll see,” Tetsurou says pessimistically, eating his lunch.

*

It doesn’t pass.

The thing is - Tetsurou is a romantic at heart. Kenma knows this, even though he routinely forgets. Tetsurou can fall in love with a pair of hands, a smile, a look on the subway. It’s nothing serious, if anything it started as a charming way to pass the time - but it can still ache, and like any flame, it is hard to extinguish.

Not helped by the fact that Akaashi and Bokuto keep coming into the shop. Never together, for some reason, but one can’t open his mouth without talking about the other. They buy each other cakes, gifts, pastries - to the extent that it would make Tetsurou a little nauseous from all the relationship fluff, if he didn’t see how genuine Bokuto is about it all, how Akaashi’s always slightly uncomfortable and quick to get the encounter over with whenever he’s buying something for Bokuto.

They seem fundamentally incompatible, or maybe so compatible it’s cliché, the yin and yang of old.

There’s no space for Tetsurou there, is the bottom line. And so it should pass. It  _ should _ pass, but it doesn’t.

Bokuto tells him stories about his day, his life with Akaashi, funny encounters he’s had throughout the years. Akaashi talks less, but that only makes every word out of his mouth more valuable - they have weighted, thoughtful exchanged about politics and identity and the implications of being out and proud, even if they only last five minutes each.

Both of them are ridiculously, irresistably charming, and Tetsurou’s romantic, gay heart keeps pounding in his chest every time he sees one of them, the flare kept alive until he finally sees the two of them together.

He sees Akaashi first. Tetsurou straightens up, the starting lines of a smile on his face - before he spots Bokuto and his heart stutters and falls.

It’s a slow, silent thing, as he watches Bokuto and Akaashi come into the shop, giving each other familiar, fond looks, but it’s a kind of heartbreak all the same.

They look perfect together, standing too close and brushing shoulders.

“Kuroo!” Bokuto calls happily, even though the shop is empty except for the three of them.

“Hello,” Tetsurou says, nodding towards them. Akaashi smiles at him too, and Tetsurou looks down, busying himself with organising paper bags.

“Are you guys getting enough custom? I worry, ya know, I don’t really see many people in here.”

“I do,” Akaashi responds before Tetsurou can. “You just come in at unreasonable times.”

“Like when?” Bokuto asks, offended.

“Like now.” Akaashi gestures to the empty café. Bokuto slumps and Tetsurou lets out a huff of laughter.

“What can I get for you guys?”

“Ah, we were actually -” Akaashi starts, but Bokuto interrupts him.

“Will you make a chocolate cake? With green and gold and red decorations?”

Akaashi sighs.

“Okay,” Tetsurou says with bemusement, finding a slip to note down the order.

“Don’t mind him, we’re here to--”

“Don’t ruin it, Keiji!” Bokuto cries, slamming his hands on the counter and looking intently at Tetsurou. “And it should say, ‘do you want to date us’!”

“With a--”  _ question mark,  _ Tetsurou begins to say, but his voice trails off as he looks up, speechless as his gaze shifting between Akaashi and Bokuto.

“Sorry,” Akaashi says, looking sympathetic. “He insisted we ask you like this. He’s a romantic.”

“Don’t make it sound like a bad thing,” Bokuto complains, but Tetsurou’s brain is still playing catch-up. “The green is you, and the gold is me, and the red is Kuroo! Like his uniform!”

“Wait, wait, wait. You want to…?”

“Yes,” Bokuto says instantly. “You’re awesome, and really hot!”

Akaashi nods. “We know it’s a strange situation,” he says. “And I don’t know if a polyamorous relationship is something you’d consider, but…”

“If not, we can just be friends,” Bokuto hurries to add. “Go to dinner and stuff - but like friends do! What do you say?”

“Uh,” Tetsurou says. He keeps looking between them. “Just to be clear, you’re not pranking me or anything, are you?”

They both shake their heads.

“Then yeah,” Tetsurou says, and he can’t help but smile - a grin that only grows when Bokuto returns it, wide and beaming. Tetsurou’s eyes shift to meet Akaashi’s, and he’s smiling too, smaller but no less genuine.

“Awesome,” Bokuto says with feeling.

“We should go, then,” Akaashi says, a touch of reluctance in his posture. “I don’t want to disturb you at work…”

“Please, stay,” says Tetsurou. “It’s not like there’s anyone here for me to neglect in favour of you.”

Bokuto laughs. “Told you this was a good idea,” he tells Akaashi, who nods as if it’s a fact, that dating Tetsurou is a good idea.

Again, he can’t help his grin. “I’ll give you some croissants,” he says. “We were going to throw them out anyway, they didn’t come out right.”

“Are you allowed to do that?” Akaashi asks dubiously.

Tetsurou grins at him. “You gonna tell on me? Besides, it’d just go in the trash. Watch the front,” he says and leaves for the back room.

“Keiji,  _ free delicious pastries,” _ he hears, and with a bit of a disbelieving laugh he gets out his phone to text Kenma.  _ You’ll never guess who came in and asked me on a date, _ he writes.  _ BOTH of them. _

_ Wow, _ Kenma texts back, quick as ever. Tetsurou laughs, scrubs his hand over his face and grabs some croissants, coming back out to spend as long as he can with Akaashi and Bokuto. He was never willing to carve himself a space between the two of them - but if they are the ones to let him in, it’s a whole different matter.

**Author's Note:**

> [tungl](http://tivruskis.tumblr.com) | [twit](http://twitter.com/tivruskis)


End file.
